The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-01-08
The Tattler.

Tile Dilemma OF the Nineteenth Cen
fury" and is composed of forty.one stan
zas Of good, bad and Indifferent rhyme.
Miss Cleveland has undertaken In II TO
set forth through the medium Of verse her
views relative to the sphere which women
should at present occupy in the world Of
action, problem she deems the great
dilemma of the century. Heretofore her
literary efforts have been confned TO
prose-having given 10 the puhlic y vol
ume of essays, critical and historical, and
an extremely ride llnus novel In her
poem the line Of thought characterizlng
her essays is closely followed II is evil
dent that for years she has been a student
of German metaphysical philosophy, and
warmly admires the German theories. She
has little federation for the modern young
lady of fashion, and still less for the cruel.
ties of custom. She advises the heroine of
her poem TO
Rise from the chains Of custom which
have bound you
TO slayish Difference to Fashions voice
And stale convention, Chains that must be
By the same soft hands that God to you
has given
For better use than always doing 'nir.'
Or advertising by their jrwelled glimmer
Your heart bait for any golden swim
mer.'
The closing stanzas Of Miss Cleveland's
poem are not only very good In thought
but we'll worded. They
Choose Love, the marvel, Love, the old
magician
Whose alcuemy divine transmutes our
drOss
To finest old,-Love, the unschooled ply,
stefan
Who, healing takes no note of gain or
loss.
Ay, choose thou Love albeit in the choos-
ing
Thou choose days feast and u life.
long dearth,
Thou gainest still a greater gain In losing,
For Love and Pal. are beings of one
birth.
Love the divine, Love the self-abnegating
Love the eternal all time antedating.
Choose Faith, the salt of work, the soul of
Love, whose laughter
Chimes through an arid Present, DER u
barren Past,
With full sweet echoes from the great
Hereafter,
Assuring work contenting Love, at last
Faith in myself, thy greatness surely know
ing;
Faith in thy work, undoubtlng of It's
worth;
Faith in thy Love, ever more trustful
growing;
Faith In the Pain that came with thy
Loves birth.
Choose for thy soul such itch, sufficient
diet
And thou shalt find Astounding health and
quiet
Such quiet as the sea knows where sbid.
eth
All moving life, all treasures rich and
rare,
Such quiet rs the untrodden forest hiderh |
Albeit all the Singng birds are there.
SO steadfast DiJ., wuist midst mans !
dr-nry Gliding
Eternity /, surging org tbe beach OF
fine,
And und:r eath thy feet it, sand are slid.
Ing
Into that rcean vast with >pnnd sublime. |
Its surf hail salt thy patient works en-
denver,
While Love and Faith echo Its grand for.
ever!
Leaving metaphysical poetry for more
matter of fact verse, and verse that is the
product of an lllinOlsan "to the manor |
born" we Gull the following sweet flowers
of poetic thought from volume entitled
Random Shots" written and published by
Nelson Goodrich Humphrey, of Leroy, in
this state The poem bears the appropri'
ate title "Spring,"--
And heard the cattle lowing
On the prairie, stiff and cold;
And the rooster, he was growing,
But his voice was harsh and uId
And saw two wives together
Making soap, and their tongues did use,
Taking there about the weather,
And their neighbors did abuse.
1t seems that Mr.. Humphrey is not
poet by profession, but grocer, who
throws off such gems as the above by way
of recreation and rest from the more ardu-
nus labor of weighing out salt ami sugar,
Whether or no he has of late given too
much attention to the polite art we are un
able To say, but among the news items of
the week is the following: "On Monday
Nelson Goodrich Humphrey, of Leroy,
made an assignment, his liabilities amount
ing to $4,000. Mr. Humphrey is grocer
and poet"
To such lengths has the abuse of news
paper interviewing heen carried that
protest Is being entered against further
outrage of 1t on the part not only of the In
erviewer, but on the part of those who are
he responsible editors of the papers pub
fishing the interviews A writer In the
Princeton Reuieto for January after depre-
,ating the evil produced by the abuse of